The War Game (1965)
Dec 18, 2003Nuclear War Mockumentary
Peter Watkins stark, brutal mockumentary about a nuclear strike on England, this was banned from the BBC and still makes for harsh viewing today
BBC
The Year of the Sex Olympics (1968)
Sep 19, 2023Media-Controlled Future
Film from Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale well ahead of its time in its prediction of a populace controlled by television
Penda’s Fen (1974)
Mar 4, 2025Coming of Age/Folk Religion
Absolutely extraordinary British tv play that was one of the formative works in the development of Folk Horror on screen
Count Dracula (1977)
Nov 29, 2014Dracula Adaptation
The most faithful version of Dracula to date. A BBC mini-series that adapts the book as a no-nonsense costume drama and even shoots in the mentioned locations, giving the impression of the story taking place as Bram Stoker visualised it
Red Shift (1978)
Sep 22, 2021Mysterious Connections Between Historical Eras
TV adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Alan Garner of the mysterious connections between three stories that take place in different historic eras
Pennies from Heaven (1978)
Aug 25, 2013Musical Daydreams
Dennis Potter was the greatest writer to ever work in televisio. This mini-series is one of his most celebrated works, groundbreaking in its day, featuring characters bursting out into lip-synched Golden Oldie songs, making biting contrast between the rosy romantic sentiments and their downbeaten lives
Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
Jan 27, 2021Depiction of Childhood/Adults Play Children
I have said it before and will say it again – Dennis Potter was the greatest writer to ever work in television. This is his classic work depicting childhood where all the roles of the children are played by adults
The Martian Chronicles (1980)
Aug 12, 2012Human Colonisation of Mars/Ray Bradbury Adaptation
Ray Bradbury's book about the human colonisation of Mars is an SF classic for its wistful, nostalgic poetry. This tv mini-series adaptation is killed by a lumbering director who over-explains Bradbury's imagery in the most literal ways
The Day of the Triffids (1981)
Jul 3, 2007The Downfall of Civilisation/Lethal Plants Amok
Excellent and extremely faithful tv adaptation of the John Wyndham book. This tells the story in terms of ordinary people forced to survive in a harsh world overtaken by killer plants and contains some exceptional writing
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (1981)
Jan 30, 2005Gonzo SF
The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a multi-media phenomenon that has developed a cult. The tv series with a less-than-stellar BBC budget was not the most effective incarnation of these but still hits the wittily absurd nerve of Douglas Adams’ humour
The Time Masters (1982)
Jun 7, 2017Animation/Planetary Adventure
Rene Laloux, the animator who made Fantastic Planet, collaborates with cult fantasy artist Moebius and the result is a planetary adventure filled with trippily exotic backgrounds and creatures
The Invisible Man (1984)
Apr 22, 2025Invisible Man/H.G. Wells Adaptation
An adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel conducted as a mini-series from the BBC, this adapts the book with an enormous faithfulness
Threads (1984)
Nov 30, 2021Nuclear War
UK tv movie that sets out to offer an unflinching depiction of a nuclear strike. About as bleak as it is possible to get
The Tripods <i>[Season 1]</i> (1984)
![The Tripods <i>[Season 1]</i> (1984)](https://moriareviews.com/rongulator/wp-content/uploads/tripods-1984-poster-768x1099.jpg)
Dec 7, 2021Earth After an Alien Invasion
Classic tv mini-series about rebellion in a future where Earth is controlled by giant alien tripod machines, this still holds up as something great today
Edge of Darkness (1985)
Feb 1, 2008Nuclear Power/Environmental Thriller
One of the great tv series of the 1980s, a powerful and incisive snapshot of Thatcherite England, the backroom politics of the nuclear power industry and the environmentalist movement. A brilliantly written show featuring great performances
The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986)
Jan 25, 2017Jilted Woman's Elaborate Revenge
This was highly acclaimed when it came out, a mini-series about a frumpy woman taking gleeful revenge on the husband who abandoned her. This is essentially Fatal Attraction rewritten where Glenn Close is the heroine of the show and outfitted with a feminist manifesto to hilariously barbed results
The Singing Detective (1986)
Jun 10, 2024Meta-Fiction/Detective Story Daydreams
One of the most extraordinary works ever made for tv. From the pen of Dennis Potter, a mini-series that blends film noir, meta-fiction and autobiography
First Born (1988)
May 27, 2025Gorilla-Human Hybrid
A standout tv mini-series that updates old mad scientist clichés into the era of Jane Goodall as scientist Charles Dance creates a human/gorilla hybrid child and tries to raise it as his own son
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe (1988)
May 5, 2005Epic Fantasy Adventure/Magical Otherworld
Before the films, this was an earlier BBC tv mini-series version of the C.S. Lewis book, one of a series of four adaptations. This is faithful to the story but suffers from impoverished effects
Blackeyes (1989)
Nov 26, 2005Character in a Book Comes to Life
TV mini-series from the great Dennis Potter in which the lead character in a smutty novel by an aging writer rebels against her fate. As always with Potter, this blurs fiction, meta-fiction and autobiographical elements
The Gift (1990)
Jan 20, 2021Clairvoyant Youth
A modestly made BBC mini-series concerning a boy who discovers he has the titular gift of clairvoyant visions and how those around him try to exploit this
The Borrowers [<i>Season 1</i>] (1992)
![The Borrowers [<i>Season 1</i>] (1992)](https://moriareviews.com/rongulator/wp-content/uploads/borrowers-1992-poster.jpg)
Sep 16, 2025Miniature People Adventures
Absolutely delightful and charming BBC series about a family of miniature people who live in secrecy inside the walls of human houses. The best of several versions of the popular books
Ghostwatch (1992)
Jun 18, 2024Live Broadcast Investigation Into a Haunted House
Classic BBC live broadcast tv special where a camera crew investigate a haunted house. Cited as one of the first Found Footage films, this does some ingenious things blending fact and fiction and messing with its audience
The Relic (1997)
Jul 8, 2005Monster Movie
This is a copy of Alien with a monster hunting people through darkened corridors and is generic in all regards, although you have to admit that Stan Winston creates an original monster and the film generates reasonable suspense
Gormenghast (2000)
May 27, 2007Imaginary Castle World
I enjoyed Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast books far more than J.R.R. Tolkien. Alas, the sublime texture and eccentricity is completely missing in this BBC tv version, which aims for colourful silliness
The Lost World (2001)
Feb 4, 2021Lost Plateau of Dinosaurs
TV mini-series adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle lost world story produced by the BBC as a glorious period adventure with CGI dinosaurs
The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002)
May 25, 2008Sherlock Holmes Film/Ghostly Dog Mystery
A new and extremely good adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story featuring Richard Roxburgh as Holmes. This offers some radical shakeups of the story and characters
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
Nov 21, 2003Videogame Adaptation
The first Tomb Raider film was empty-headed but a hit but the series was then promptly killed off by this sequel. Angelina Jolie's performance that feels detached from human emotion and the action sequences ludicrous
Fungus the Bogeyman (2004)
Feb 26, 2007Secret World of Filth-Loving Bogeys
BBC mini-series adaptation of Raymond Briggs' classic children's book about a secret underworld of bogeys who love all that is filthy and disgusting and their encounter with a human family
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2005)
Apr 19, 2007Modernised Shakespeare Adaptation
Under the umbrella title ShakespeareRetold, one of several Shakespeare plays that were reimagined in modern-day settings by the BBC. Here Shakespeare's tale of fairy enchantments and romantic mix-ups is reimagined in a British holiday camp
The Triangle (2005)
Dec 10, 2014Solving the Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle
An impressive line-up of genre names came together for this big event mini-series that sets out to offer a conclusive explanation for the Bermuda Triangle in a plot that juggles an entertaining stew of wild ideas involving timewarps, alternate timelines and government cover-ups
The Quatermass Experiment (2005)
Oct 31, 2005Mutating Astronaut
A remake of the first Quatermass story conducted as a live broadcast tv movie. Quite a considerable technical achievement considering the limitations and one that works with quite reasonable results
A for Andromeda (2006)
Mar 21, 2023Messages from Space
A tv movie remake of a classic 1960s BBC serial where astronomers pick up messages from space that gives instructions for the construction of a body for themselves
The Haunted Airman (2006)
Sep 28, 2020Dennis Wheatley Adaptation/Paranoia and Possible Hauntings
Robert Pattinson (before he was a recognised name) as a convalescing pilot during WWII who is haunted by demonic spiders in an adaptation of a book by occult writer Dennis Wheatley.
Random Quest (2006)
Apr 21, 2016Alternate Timeline/John Wyndham Adaptation
BBC tv play adaptation of a short story by John Wyndham that also furnished the earlier film Quest for Love about a man finding himself in an alternate world. Despite this version being more faithful to Wyndham, the earlier film makes the central relationship work better
The Wind in the Willows (2006)
Jun 15, 2008Talking Animals/Absurdist Adventures
Amiable live-action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's classic children's work made for the BBC with an all-star cast
Jekyll (2007)
Aug 27, 2013Modernised Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde/TV Mini-Series
Doctor Who writer/producer Steven Moffat's modernised revamping of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of the best versions of the story to date. Moffat reworks the story in fascinatingly radical ways, the writing has a blackly funny brilliance, while James Nesbitt gives a gleeful rafter-rattling performance
The Day of the Triffids (2009)
Jun 19, 2010The Downfall of Civilisation/Lethal Plants Amok
Disappointing tv mini-series remake of the John Wyndham novel about England overrun by killer plants. This abandons most of the book's sociological portrait for cliche melodramatics
The First Men in the Moon (2010)
Jan 28, 2011Victorian Lunar Expedition/H.G. Wells Adaptation
Very nicely produced BBC retelling of the H.G. Wells novel that conducts an extremely faithful adaptation of the story and captures a perfect period sense of wonder
The Fades (2011)
Jan 14, 2015Teen Can See the Dead/Apocalytic Resurrection
An underrated mini-series – sort of the anti-Supernatural. This creates a highly original afterlife mythology and some great characters arcs, while overspilling with wry nerdish in-humour
An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)
Nov 28, 2013The Origins of Doctor Who
A film about the origins of Doctor Who made for the series' 50th anniversary. This comes packed with pieces of fanservice and origins of various iconic aspects. David Bradley gives a wonderfully nuanced and moving performance as William Hartnell
And Then There Were None (2015)
Feb 13, 2016Agatha Christie Murder Mystery
Lush, beautifully produced version of the Agatha Christie murder mystery from the BBC to celebrate Christie's 125th anniversary. The story is a chamber mystery with guests in an isolated house being bumped off – sort of Big Brother with dead bodies
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015)
Aug 2, 2015Rivalry Between Magicians
Susanna Clarke kicks J.K. Rowling completely out of the ring. This BBC adaptation of her book concerning rival 19th century magicians is an epic plot and a beautifully staged costume drama, all written with a superb Austen-esque dryness of wit
Rillington Place (2016)
Nov 11, 2019True-Life Serial Killer
BBC mini-series based on true-life serial killer John Reginald Christie that was earlier filmed as the classic >i>10 Rillington Place. Tim Roth steps into the role and the show adopts an exacting feel for the period to portray Christie's crimes with considerable effect
The Living and the Dead (2016)
May 9, 2023Ghost Story
One of the best and most original ghost stories in some time, a production for the BBC
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016)
Aug 1, 2017Modernised Shakespeare Adaptation
Adaptation of the Shakespeare play about fairy enchantments made for tv by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies. In many regards, Davies goes with a standard interpretation; in others – like portraying Athens as a fascist dictatorship – he offers radical reinvention
The Replacement (2017)
Sep 1, 2017Workplace Psycho-Thriller
Mini-series made for the BBC that seems to have closely studied the late 80s/90s psycho-thriller – Fatal Attraction, Single White Female. Morven Christie is a pregnant mother who takes a leave of absence from work only to discover that her replacement appears to be plotting to kill her
SS-GB (2017)
Jan 14, 2018Alternate History/England Under Nazi Rule
The alternate history has never fared well on film but this British mini-series is an excellent variant on the Nazis Win World War II scenario. As opposed to the similar but tedious The Man in the High Castle series, this is marvellously understated and written with superb tension
Requiem (2018)
Jul 28, 2019Abducted Child Mystery/Occult Conspiracy
This BBC tv mini-series starts out seeming a mystery about the disappearance of a child as the investigating heroine makes the jolt realisation that she is the missing child, before the show edges over into occult conspiracy. Very nicely written and beautifully directed with a line-up of standout performances
The City & The City (2018)
Dec 7, 2018Two Cities That Inhabit the Same Geographic Space
The first of China Mieville's works to be adapted to the screen, a detective story set in two cities that exist in the same geographic space but where each act as their own country. This misses as much as it succeeds
Good Omens (2019)
Jun 14, 2019Biblical End Times/Antichrist Comedy
TV mini-series based on the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett novel that spoofs The Omen and Biblical End Times prophecies. The series is very close to the book as though it didn't want to edit any precious gag
The War of the Worlds (2019)
Dec 13, 2019Period Alien Invasion/H.G. Wells Adaptation
BBC mini-series that sets out to restore the H.G. Wells novel to the era it was written. This it does, as well as restores many aspects that other films change. At the same time, it also introduces some radical changes that make it the most variant of the adaptations to date
A Christmas Carol (2019)
Dec 25, 2020Miser's Redemption/Dark Adult Retelling
A tv mini-series that offers a dark, adult and definitely not family friendly version of the oft-filmed Charles Dickens tale that reinvents the original in quite astonishing ways
The Watch (2020)
Sep 3, 2021Terry Pratchett Adaptation
Mini-series based on the works of Terry Pratchett that feels as though it is made, designed and cast by people who haven’t even read the books
Dracula (2020)
Jan 18, 2020Dracula Adaptation
BBC mini-series retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula that deconstructs and widely expands on sections of the book to create something relentlessly modernistic, sometimes in ways that take you aback
We Hunt Together (2020)
Dec 30, 2020Lovers on a Killing Spree
BBC mini-series about two lovers on a killing spree that works through some great performance and engaging character arcs
Lord of the Flies (2026)
Mar 7, 2026Reversion to Barbarism
A tv mini-series remake of William Golding’s classic novel about a planeload of schoolboys stranded on a desert island and their descent into barbarism. This gets the essence of the book with a raw primality that makes for exciting viewing